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Hanging with pope a ‘life-changer’

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

F

OR an East London primary school, chatting with Pope Francis on a video link that brought together the pontiff and pupils from five schools around the world will remain a memory of a lifetime.

“This was a life-changing experience not only for me and the school, but for the 12 boys who took part as well,” said Aubrey Pepler, deputy principal of Selborne Primary School in East London.

The pupils could barely conceal their excitement when their school was one of five schools invited, and the only school from Africa, to have a conversation with Pope Francis in a Google Hangout session.

Google Hangout is an instant messaging and video chat platform.

The students from schools in South Africa, Australia, Israel, Turkey and El Salvador heard advice from Pope Francis, who was speaking in his native Spanish from the Vatican.

Pope Francis also allowed the pupils to express their views during the video conference.

He participated in the Google Hangout project after meeting with the directors of the Scholas Ocurrentes organisation, an international education initiative based in Argentina that promotes development of young students through technology, sports, arts and culture.

The Scholas initiative was begun in Buenos Aires and supported by its then-Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio, who also used to teach high school when he was a young Jesuit priest.

Mr Pepler told The Southern Cross that his school’s involvement came about through its

A screen-grab of 13 students from Selborne Primary School in East London putting their questions to Pope Francis on Google Hangout in an event that brought together five schools from across the world to chat with the pope through the Internet video conferencing facility. contact with the head of Google South Africa, Karen Welstra, who has visited Selborne Primary “to see what we have achieved as we have gone Google”.

The invitation to participate was issued by the Google Hangout project in California, which selected the five schools.

Mr Pepler said he worked with the school’s headboy, asking him “to send me a list of Grade 7 boys he would recommend”.

The confirmation of their participation came in the form of a package of camera and

video equipment, to use for the virtual hangout session, sent from the United States via courier.

The Google Hangout project started at 16:45 with all the schools logged in simultaneously.

The session lasted 15 minutes and was conducted in Spanish. The public could view the hangout session via YouTube.

Part of Selborne’s team was Grade 6 learner Christian Zacapa, who is fluent in Spanish and spoke on behalf of the school.

The list of questions included: what the pope did in his spare time, whether he had met Nelson Mandela, what he would do if he had complete control over his citizens, and his opinion of why humanity has been separated from God. Teagan Bok from Selborne Primary said not only did the session represent an opportunity to learn, but also to put the school’s name on the map. “My question was where he grew up and what his best memories of childhood are,” he said.

“This is huge, I don’t think the boys even realise how big this is. This was also the first hangout session ever done by Pope Francis. It was most definitely a massive success for my school,” Mr Pepler said.

During the session, Pope Francis recalled getting into trouble in Grade 4.

“I wasn’t respectful towards the teacher, and the teacher called my mother. My mother came, I stayed in class and the teacher stepped out, then they called for me.

“My mom was really calm. I feared the worst,” he said. After getting him to admit to his wrongdoing, his mother told him to apologise to the teacher.

The pope said he apologised and remembered “it was easy and I was happy. But there was an Act 2 when I got home,” insinuating stiffer punishment had followed.

However, today, if a teacher notes a problem with a student, “the next day, the mother and father denounce the teacher”, Pope Francis said.

The family, schools and culture have to work together for the well-being of the child, he said. People have to “rebuild this village in order to educate a child”.

1,5 million small steps towards heaven STAFF REPORTER

A Fr Russell Pollitt, new director of the Jesuit Institute, said that no medium has wider reach than SMS. He is seen addressing a media workshop for bishops earlier this month.

fter three years in operation, the JOY text message service will send out its 1,5 millionth SMS on September 24.

In May 2011, as part of the Hope&Joy network, the Jesuit Institute launched a worldfirst SMS service. Each day JOY has been sharing extracts of Church teaching in the form of an SMS available on any cellphone, no matter how old.

Since the launch almost 6 000 people have signed up to the service at one time or another.

The service was inspired by the Redemptorists’ motivational SMSs which share a thought for the day or the readings for the day.

The JOY service focuses on educational or

catechetical content. The short messages have been drawn from the documents of Vatican II, the teaching of popes from St John XXIII onwards, Vatican commissions, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Each period takes a theme. This month, following Catholic Communications Sunday, the focus is on communications, media and advertising—and shares short sharp messages that tie in with the theme.

The service started with a famous quote from the 1963 Vatican II document Inter Mirifica which encourages Christians to use all the media at their disposal to build the Kingdom of God, which was in stark contrast to a previous Vatican stance that had been suspicious of

newspapers and radio.

A similar idea among this month’s SMSs captures the challenge of this service. It comes from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications which said: “Media and advertising have two options: either to help humans grow in their understanding and practice of what is true and good, or to be a destructive force.”

Mgr Janvier Yameogo from the council, who visited South Africa this month, commended a service like JOY as a good example of how modern media can be constructive.

Fr Russell Pollitt, the new director of the Jesuit Institute, said: “I love Twitter and Facebook but I also know that no medium has as Continued on page 3

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The Southern Cross, September 17 to September 23, 2014

Bricks saved for building of Hurley centre

LOCAL

SA to pray for Middle East peace

BY STUART GRAHAM

D

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

W

HEN Durban’s Emmanuel cathedral parish centre was demolished last year, 500 bricks were saved from the rubble and are now being used to build a coffee bar in the new Denis Hurley Centre (DHC).

“We saved 500 bricks in order to create a link between the old and new centre,” DHC coordinator Paddy Kearney said.

The bricks used in the coffee bar come from the 108-year-old building, which housed St Augustine’s School before it was the parish centre. Cast-iron air vents are also being incorporated into the coffee bar, and carved wooden handrails from the old parish’s centre staircases will be used for the triangular atrium on each of the three upper floors of the new centre.

After the building of the DHC began, it soon became apparent that the construction would be far more expensive than anticipated.

“So far we have R30,7 million of the R31,9 million needed for construction,” Mr Kearney told The Southern Cross. “We will also need a further R3 million for the fittings, furniture and equipment.”

The DHC will provide care for the poorest and most vulnerable people, promote education and training, give job-related training, and build community in one of the most diverse and challenging neighbourhoods of inner-city Durban.

“It’s our intention to carry on the legacy of the late Archbishop Denis Hurley, continuing his vision of the Church as a community serving humanity,” Mr Kearney said.

Hundreds of bricks are being sold

by St Augustine’s past pupils to help raise funds for the construction work.

“The bricks and vents have been sold for R100 each to boost the fundraising drive. Most bricks have been sold to people who have emigrated to Australia, New Zealand and Canada,” said Daphine Goad, who is in charge of the brick-selling project.

Construction began on August 1 and is due to be completed by midOctober 2015.

The centre will be officially opened on November 9, 2015, the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late Archbishop Hurley. n To buy one or more bricks or air vents at R100 each, please contact Daphne Goad on 084 606 6151 or Ekkie Esau on 084 337 7368. The names of those who buy bricks will be listed on a plaque in the coffee bar.

A protester at a march through Cape Town in August against the war on Gaza calls for prayers. The bishops of Southern Africa have called for a week of prayer for peace in the Middle East, starting on September 21.

IOCESES across South Africa will hold a week of prayer for peace in the Middle East and for the “suffering people of Gaza” from September 21-27.

The week of prayer will include a collection in all dioceses to support a children’s home in Gaza.

“At the last plenary session of the bishops of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, it was decided to express our solidarity with the suffering people in Gaza,” said Bishop José Luís Ponce de León of Manzini, Swaziland, on his blog (bhubesi.blogspot.com).

“This would be done by supporting a week of prayer for peace to be held in all our dioceses and by taking up a collection by the end of September to support a children’s home in Gaza, to be sent through the Catholic patriarch in Jerusalem.”

The Commission of Justice and Peace has prepared a pamphlet offering guidelines for the week of payer. It can be downloaded in both high and low resolution from bhubesi.blogspot.com/2014/09/weekof-prayer-for-peace.html Pretoria Archbishop William Slattery said whether perpetrated by

Israel or by Palestinine, the use of violence would “never bring a solution to the problems of the Holy Land”.

“We call on the leaders of Palestine and Israel to put an end to the war and to cease the violence—to stop killing each other,” he said.

“We call upon them, in the name of the God of Love they both worship—and with the collaboration of the international community—to commit themselves to respect their common and fundamental dignity and rights and to dialogue, to real negotiations and the building of a lasting peace.”

The week of prayer will start with a prayer for peace by Pope Francis, which was composed for the meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and then-Israeli President Shimon Peres in the Vatican in June.

On Day 2 (September 22) the region’s faithful are asked to pray for the region’s youth; on Day 3 for refugees and the displaced; on Day 4 for the Christian leaders of the Middle East; on Day 5 for humanitarian aid workers; on Day 6 for the region’s political leaders; and on Day 7 “that we may rediscover the peace of Christ in our hearts”.

September the month to fight human trafficking

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

H

UMAN trafficking is a growing concern across the world.

South Africa is both a destination and transit point for trafficking, which also takes place within its borders.

With this in mind, the Edmund Rice Network of South Africa’s (ERNSA) social justice and advocacy desk has launched its first Human Trafficking Advocacy Month in September.

Working with the Christian Brothers’ and affiliated schools nationwide, the advocacy desk is coordinating various activities aimed at raising awareness of the devastating realities of human trafficking, especially that of children.

It is assisting school students in organising and implementing advocacy activities to voice their disapproval of human trafficking.

“The activities will not only raise awareness of human trafficking among learners, parents, staff and local communities, but they will also act to empower them in their rights for political expression and social advocacy,” desk coordinator Jessica Dewhurst said.

For the first week of September the programme focused on introducing Human Trafficking Advocacy Month and raising money for a relevant organisation through the sale of green pieces of fabric, which students will be encouraged to tie somewhere on their school grounds to act as a reminder of the month’s intention.

In weeks two and three, the learners are assisted in the creation of posters, hosting a relevant guest speaker, signing petitions and writing protest letters to influential government personnel. The learners’ involvement in these activities is intended to provide them with skills and knowledge of their social rights, responsibilities and abilities to make a positive change.

The month will end with a public display against human trafficking.

The social justice and advocacy desk is encouraged by the enthusiasm of young people nationwide to stand up and speak out on behalf of trafficked children and adults.

“We are incredibly excited,” Ms Dewhurst told The Southern Cross.

“It’s now the job of organisations such as ourselves and civil society to stand up and advocate for victims of human trafficking.”

Fr Anthony Egan SJ (left) with fellow attendees at the theological colloquium held in Nairobi, Kenya.

Theological meeting in Nairobi

F

ATHER Anthony Egan SJ of the Jesuit Institute, Nontando Hadebe (formerly of St Augustine College) and Sr Alison Munro OP of the SACBC Aids Office attended the theological colloquium on Church, religion and society in Africa held in Nairobi, Kenya.

The colloquium, part of a threeyear project, brought together African Catholic scholars doing theology or using theological and ethical resources to study issues facing the African Church and society.

Its theme was “The Church we Want: Theological Voices from

Within and Outside the Church at the Service of Ecclesia in Africa”.

The colloquium examined themes as varied as becoming the Church of the New Testament, small Christian communities, African spirituality, African independent Churches, and Christian unity.

Fr Egan spoke in a session examining some of the crises besetting Africa which call for a response beyond rhetoric conveyed in pastoral letters, communiques and post-synodal documents. Sr Munro was part of a panel addressing the theme of Ecclesia of women in Africa.

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The SKCP volunteers belong to Parish Groups that are established at Parishes in target communities. Through the St. Kizito Movement, the physical, intellectual, emotional and psycho-social needs of OVCs are met in an holistic way. Parish Groups provide children and families with a variety of essential services, while the SKCP office provides the groups with comprehensive training and on-going support.

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LOCAL

The Southern Cross,September 17 to September 23, 2014

3

Row over sale of Holy Family land

BY STUART GRAHAM

A

BITTER battle is brewing between the Holy Family Sisters and the governing body of the Holy Family College in Parktown, Johannesburg, over a proposal to sell a third of the school property to an office park developer.

While principal Mark Potterton said the sisters are acting “unscrupulously” by proposing to sell one of the school’s playing fields, Holy Family Sister Sheila Mary Waspe said the land belongs to her congregation, and is theirs to sell.

“It is prime land and the sisters are keen to make a buck,” Mr Potterton said.

“They are the owners. We are the users. But it is the way they have gone about this that is the problem,” he said.

Mr Potterton said the sisters had approached the school for a “consultation” which he said amounted to, “We are coming to tell you what we are going to do”.

Holy Family, previously known as Parktown Convent for Girls, was founded in 1905.

The Holy Family sisters handed over control of the school to par-

Fatima fest coming to Stellenbosch STAFF REPORTER

T

John Nkompela of Sacred Heart parish in Qoqodala, Queenstown diocese, is pictured after paying for his annual subscription for The Southern Cross. The parish, led by Fr Matthias Nsamba, has started a drive to promote the national Catholic weekly.

HE annual Fatima Festival will be held in Stellenbosch over the weekend of October 18-19.

Started by the then large Portuguese community of Stellenbosch in 1987, the festival has grown into one of the major annual events on the Stellenbosch social calendar.

It has also spread throughout the Western Cape, and is celebrated at a number of venues.

It takes place a week before another big event, the annual Blessing of the Fishing Fleet ceremony in Cape Town.

Though still retaining a strong Portuguese flavour, with busloads of Portuguese fans coming from other parts of the province, the Fatima Festival embraces all communities.

Communities in Kayamandi, Cloetesville and Idas Valley have also raised funds for this year’s festival, which is being organised by St Nicholas’ parish.

The festival has a religious grounding and includes a street procession on the Sunday morning from 11:00. n For further information contact Rory Cruickshank at 073 603 1605 or Michelle Jones at 082 474 1298.

The Canon Law Society of South Africa met in Durban for its bi-annual conference. The guest speaker was Cardinal Raymond Burke (seated second from left), prefect of the Apostolic Signatura. Elections for office bearers were also held. Fr Cyril Malinga (right of the cardinal) was succeeded by Fr Noel Rucastle (left of the cardinal) as president of the society. Mgr John Finlayson (back, far right) was succeeded by Fr Edmund O’Neill (back, third from the right) as consultor, and Marieke Vrugtman (seated left) remains as secretary for another term of office.

Great joy in 1,5 million SMSs Continued from page 1 much reach as a humble SMS. We want to encourage people to sign up to read these hidden treasures of Catholic teaching.”

His predecessor, Raymond Perrier, drafted most of the 1 200 different messages. He said Pope Francis had made his life easier: “Extracting 160 characters from his speeches and writings is much easier than it was under previous popes. He speaks in soundbites!”

To sign up for the daily educational service of Vatican teaching, SMS the word JOY to 31222 and then SMS the word Yes as a reply to confirm. Cost is R4 per week.

To receive a daily inspirational “Thought for the Day” from the Reword the SMS demptorists, CATHOLIC to 31222. To receive a daily reference to the readings of the day, SMS the word WORD to 31222. Each of these services costs R7 per week

ents and Catholic professionals in 1985, but retained ownership of the land.

In 1991, Parktown Convent School became Holy Family College, a co-educational school for girls and boys from Grade 0 to matric.

Today the school is attended by 560 pupils, many from Soweto.

“They say they are selling it to raise money for their missions and for the retired sisters,” Mr Potterton said.

“It puts me in a difficult spot,” he said. “I like the sisters. And I like Sr Sheila Mary,” who is very well

known in the archdiocese of Johannesburg.

“It is possible that it could go to court. I hope not,” Mr Potterton said.

The sale of the land would place “a lot of pressure on the very small property. Most of the playing fields will be uprooted. There will be less space for recreation for the children,” the principal said.

“We will also have to build more buildings to accommodate [the] primary school.”

Certain buildings on the property are classified as heritage sites and therefore cannot be simply

torn down.

Sr Sheila Mary said the sale of the land was not a done deal yet.

“We have had so many proposals to buy the school,” Sr Sheila Mary said. “Some want the property for parking. We are in the process of looking at what is feasible and not feasible.”

She said the congregation is still “looking at proposals”.

Sr Sheila Mary emphasised that the land belongs to the sisters.

“It is ours to sell,” she said, adding that if the school wants to buy it, “they can make a proposal as well”.

Staff of Nazareth House in Yeoville, Johannesburg, with a memorandum of understanding from the Gauteng Department of Health representatives, in which the department undertakes to provide anti-retroviral drugs and laboratory testing for persons enrolled in the Nazareth House Clinic of Hope and Love. For over ten years, Nazareth House Yeoville has provided in- and out-patient care for people living with HIV. These services were funded through the US government, but with the recent reallocation of funds, this understanding goes a long way to ensuring the sustainability of the Nazareth House clinic and hospice.

Seated (from left) Nobantu Mpela, acting director HIV, Aids and Sexually Transmitted Infections; Sr Veronica; and Lucky Hlatswayo, ART manager Johannesburg health district. (Standing) Sr Sylvia Simpwalo; Ricus Dullaert; and Dr Kerrigan McCarthy.

4

The Southern Cross, September 17 to September 23, 2014

INTERNATIONAL

Libya’s Catholics ‘trapped’

BY JONATHAN LUxMOORE

C

A nun leads prayer for displaced Iraqi Christians who fled Islamic State militants in Mosul at a school acting as a refugee camp in Irbil, Iraq. Irbil now hosts more than 100 000 displaced Christians and other minorities.

Some Christians who have fled Iraq say they do not want to return.

(Photo: Ahmed Jadallah, Reuters/CNS)

Ireland’s new primate: I’m a servant, not CEO

BY SARAH MACDONALD

Church property was being guarded and Catholics had been cautioned not to travel because of roadblocks set up by the Islamists, he said.

“To whom are we accountable, and who can we turn to for help?

We won’t know till we know who’s governing. Until the United Nations does something, it’s those with weapons who’ll dominate and rule here,” Fr Baranquel explained.

Tripoli was captured in late August after fighting by the Dawn of Libya militia group forced the government and parliament, elected in June, to flee to Tobruk, near the Egyptian border.

Bishop Sylvester Magro, leader of the city’s Catholic community, said he had had no contact with Islamist groups, and counted on the Vatican’s nunciature in Malta, which is responsible for the Church in Libya, to negotiate on behalf of Catholics.

Bishop Magro said that he was not aware of any “anti-Christian pressure” in Benghazi, but added that other Christian communities, including the Coptic and Greek Or-

thodox churches, had closed churches and evacuated clergy.

Bishop Magro added that the Catholic Church was determined to “remain with the people”, despite continued clashes between Islamist fighters and government-allied forces.

“As a Church, we’re doing all we can to look after the spiritual needs of our faithful, and sometimes their material needs as well,” he said.

Meanwhile, Fr Baranquel said the Muslim Red Crescent charity had earned the trust of Christians through its efforts to help, but added that local officials seemed powerless to influence the situation.

“Everyone is asking what will happen. But there are now two governments, so we don’t know who’s running the country and don’t see any way out,” he said.

“For now, we’re trapped and helpless here and needing help from someone who can intervene and negotiate for us. But who are they supposed to speak to? Until we know, all we can do is pray.”—CNS

Seminarian received emergency deathbed priestly ordination

T

HE new Catholic primate of All Ireland has pledged to be a “servant leader” whose aim is to bring the Irish Church through a process of “humble renewal”.

Archbishop Eamon Martin, 52, has succeeded Cardinal Seán Brady as primate of All Ireland, a leadership role that covers the 26 dioceses in the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland. For nearly 17 months, Archbishop Martin had served as Cardinal Brady’s coadjutor in Armagh, and his succession was automatic when Pope Francis accepted Cardinal Brady’s resignation this month.

The new Irish primate said his priorities would be “to get to know my people and to facilitate a movement that will allow people to be confident in their faith without being polemical and condemnatory”.

Dismissing those who see the role of primate as “some kind of massive CEO position”, he said it is a figurative and honorary position because of Armagh’s significance as the see of St Patrick.

“It is a kind of a servant leadership rather than any big hierarchical leadership or position of power,” he said in an interview.

He said that even though people are living in a very fast world with many commitments pulling them this way and that, he believed “people still need God in their lives, and they need their Church”.

“There is still a lot of hope in people that they would like a renewal of their Church,” he said, but he cautioned against being

ATHOLICS in Libya have been left “afraid and unprotected”, local Catholic leaders said, since Islamist militants seized Tripoli and Benghazi, forcing the country’s elected parliament and government to flee.

Franciscan Father Amado Baranquel, vicar of Tripoli’s Franciscan community, said most Christians were afraid to leave their homes because they feared being abducted.

“There’s much lawlessness now, and we have no protection or security. Most Masses are having to be celebrated in private houses and apartments, like in ancient times,” he said.

The priest spoke as fighting continued between rival Islamist and pro-government forces in the Libyan capital and the eastern port city.

Fr Baranquel told Catholic News Service that local Muslims had been “friendly and sympathetic” towards Catholics, often arranging rides for them in private cars and warning of possible dangers.

BY RICK MUSACCHIO

A Archbishop Eamon Martin, 52, the new primate of All Ireland. (Photo courtesy Irish Bishops’ Conference) overly optimistic.

Explaining his concept of “humble renewal” he said it was not about “building up some big edifice or some triumphalist Church or trying to make sure that it dominates politics and the state”.

“A Church that is humble is a Church on our knees, hopefully in prayer, recognising the terrible things that have happened in the past and the need to ask God’s mercy and to ask forgiveness of people.”

Archbishop Martin said he also would work quietly with the other bishops to encourage the faithful.—CNS

S William Carmona, 51, lay gravely ill in a San Antonio, Texas, hospital bed dying of cancer, he repeatedly questioned his classmates from nearby Assumption seminary: “Where is Bishop Choby?” “When will he get here?”

And finally: “How many more hours until he ordains me?”

The fourth-year theology seminarian, who came from Colombia to the US in 2000, was entering his final year of preparation for ordination as a transitional deacon later this year and as a priest of the diocese of Nashville, Tennessee, in 2015.

When Bishop David Choby of Nashville learned of his grave condition after the seminarian was rushed to the hospital the first week of September, he made plans to travel to San Antonio to ordain him immediately because of the emergency circumstances.

“The joy and satisfaction in administering the sacrament of holy orders is a high point in the life of any bishop, but to have the opportunity to celebrate the sacrament for one who is so much looking forward to ordination but faces the certainty of death made it the more poignant,” Bishop Choby said.

He ordained the seminarian in his hospital bed on September 8. Fr Carmona died two days later.

Bishop David Choby anoints William Carmona’s hands as part of the ordination rite at a hospital. Fr Carmona (inset), who was gravely ill with cancer, died two days later. (Photos: Rick Musacchio, Tennessee Register) “I know of no other vocation which touches so many moments in a person’s life,” Bishop Choby said. “In a way that is singularly focused, the priesthood has as its centre, the mystery of redemption, which is the dying and the rising of the Lord.”

Bishop Choby added that ordination of Fr Carmona as he faced death “reflects the Pascal Mystery.

That is how our own lives are trans-

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Although Fr Carmona was unable to respond verbally during his ordination, he had expressed his assent to the ordination earlier, Bishop Choby told those gathered to witness the sacrament.

Priests near Fr Carmona during the Mass saw signs of recognition and joy as the ordination proceeded.—CNS

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INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, September 17 to September 23, 2014

5

Pope appoints 14 couples to join bishops in synod

BY CAROL GLATz

M

ORE than 250 participants, including 14 married couples from around the world, are expected to attend October’s extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family.

In addition to 114 presidents of national bishops’ conferences, 13 heads of Eastern Catholic churches and 25 heads of Vatican congregations and councils, the pope appointed 26 synod fathers to take part in the October 5-19 synod.

Almost all of the 26 papally appointed voting members are from

Europe. Of these, none of the 14 cardinals, eight bishops and four priests appointed by the pope is from North America or other English-speaking countries.

Some of the papal appointees include German Cardinal Walter Kasper, Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, and Italian Cardinal Elio Sgreccia, as well as Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, director of La Civiltà Cattolica journal, and Mgr Pio Pinto, dean of the Roman Rota, a Vatican-based tribunal that deals mainly with marriage cases.

However, among the non-voting

members of 38 observers and 16 experts appointed by the pope, the majority are laymen and laywomen, including 14 married couples, and they are more geographically diverse, with several coming from Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas, as well as Europe.

Those attending who are part of the synod’s ordinary council include Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban.

Pope Francis will serve as president and Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri as the synod’s general secretary.

The theme of the extraordinary

synod is: “The pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelisation”, and synod members will be called upon to find ways to improve the pastoral application of Church teachings, ways to explain it and to help Catholics live it.

Many of the 38 papally appointed observers and experts are lay and religious women and men active in family ministries and pastoral care, canon law and moral theology.

Those invited to attend include Steve and Sandra Conway, regional directors of the Retrouvaille pro-

gramme in Southern Africa for couples experiencing difficulty in their marriages.

Riyadh Naoom Azzo and Sanaa Ibrahim Habeeb, a married couple from Iraq, are attending as “witnesses of Christian family life in an Islamic setting”.

Eight “fraternal delegates” will represent non-Catholic Christian communities, such as the Lutheran, Anglican and Baptist communities as well as Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, director of foreign relations for the Moscow patriarchate.—CNS

Sheen cause suddenly suspended

BY MARK PATTISON

T

The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museums. Pope Francis’ election has boosted the number of visitors to the Vatican and also the Museums. To protect the Sistine Chapel, new air-conditioning and LED lighting systems are being installed. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

Sistine chapel weathers problem of more tourists

BY JUDITH HARRIS

T

HE “Francis effect” has spilled over into the Sistine Chapel, bringing a surge in visitors but also increasing risks to maintenance of what Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums, calls “the world’s chapel”.

Prior to a 14-year restoration, completed in 1994, visitors to the chapel numbered about 1,5 million annually. That rose to more than 5 million in 2011. Since the March 2013 election of Pope Francis, whose weekly public audiences and readings of the Angelus have boosted turnout in St Peter’s Square, the number of chapel visitors is up to 5,5 million, or 20 000 per day—and 30 000 on the last Sunday of every month, when admission is free.

Every 20 minutes, a group of almost 700 people is let into the room, which measures less than 560m2.

So many visitors not only make the viewing experience less pleasant, they bring in perspiration and bacteria that threaten the survival of masterpieces by Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Pinturicchio, Perugino and, most famously, Michelangelo.

Recent accounts in the Italian press have complained that the chapel is “as crowded as a train station”, and warned that a “wall” of human breath threatens “unimaginable disaster” for the 1 100m2 of painted surfaces. As one headline put it: “The enemy is you!”

The problems are aggravated by the late 15th-century chapel’s peculiar design, which resembles that of

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a fortress. The chapel has no exterior entrance, and is entered through the Apostolic Palace; its high windows are permanently closed.

All this keeps the exchange of air to a minimum, accentuating the effects of pollution, including windborne car exhaust and dust, and of exterior humidity and abrupt changes in temperature.

One obvious remedy would be to reduce the number of visitors, but Mr Paolucci has vigorously opposed this, insisting the faithful have a right to see the room where cardinals have elected new popes for more than five centuries.

The present air-conditioning system, installed in the mid-1990s, was designed for only half the current number of visitors, so the Vatican is installing a powerful new system slated to be operative in October.

That is not the only new technology being introduced to assist in conservation.

To reduce the risk of heat damage from illumination, the Vatican is installing an advanced LED lighting system that, according to its manufacturer, will also slash energy consumption by 60-80%.

LED illumination has its critics.

Because each LED light must be colour-adjusted for the surface upon which it is directed, colours can appear inconsistent.

Total cost for the 7 000 new LED lights and their installation was R20 million, almost half of it paid for by the European Union, the rest by private sponsors.—CNS

HE canonisation cause of US Archbishop Fulton Sheen has been suspended indefinitely, according to a statement issued by the diocese of Peoria, Illinois, where the archbishop was born.

“The process to verify a possible miracle attributed to Sheen had been going extremely well, and only awaited a vote of the cardinals and the approval of the Holy Father.

There was every indication that a possible date for beatification in Peoria would have been scheduled for as early as the coming year,” the diocese said.

Archbishop Sheen, who gained fame in the 1950s with a primetime television series called Life Is Worth Living, died in New York in 1979.

The diocesan statement said the archdiocese of New York denied a request from Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria to move the archbishop’s body to Peoria.

Joseph Zwilling, communications director for the New York archdiocese, said Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York “did express a

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Archbishop Fulton Sheen, whose sainthood cause has been abruptly suspended. hesitance in exhuming the body” without a directive from the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes and family approval. The statement added that Archbishop Sheen’s “closest surviving family members” asked that the archbishop’s wishes be respected and that he had “expressly stated his desire that his remains be buried in New York.”

A subsequent statement from the Peoria diocese said it had received a “shocking statement” from an attorney for the New York archdiocese saying the archdiocese “would never allow the examination of the

body, the securing of relics or the transfer of the body”.

In a statement Bishop Jenky said that “clearly Archbishop Sheen’s wishes for his final resting place could not have anticipated that he would go through a canonisation process led by his native diocese of Peoria, after it was turned down by the archdiocese of New York”.

However, “after further discussion with Rome, it was decided that the Sheen cause would now have to be relegated to the congregation’s historic archive”, the Peoria diocesan statement said.

If the Peoria diocese’s decision is final to suspend Archbishop Sheen’s cause and to assign it to the Vatican congregation’s historical archives, Mr Zwilling said, “the archdiocese of New York would welcome the opportunity to assume responsibility for the cause in an attempt to move it forward”.

Archbishop Sheen, after his years in the TV and radio limelight, retained a high profile by running the Society for the Propagation of the Faith out of New York City. His work was known throughout the English-speaking Church.—CNS

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6

The Southern Cross, September 17 to September 23, 2014

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

I take the Eucharist with gratitude

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

The Church’s healing gift

I

N a perceptive column last week, our writer Sarah-Leah Pimentel proposed that Catholics make use of the sacrament of reconciliation as a part of an interior spring-clean.

She described confession as “the gift the Church gives us to approach Christ in childlike trust and know that all things will be made new in the light of God’s love. It is a place where we can let go of the past and look forward with hope to the future.”

The sacrament of reconciliation is indeed one of the Church’s great gifts to the faithful. Properly conducted, by confessor and penitent, it is a grace-giving ritual.

Over time, alas, confession has been invested with an ambiguous reputation. By some it is regarded as an anachronistic obligation imposed by the Church, rather than as a means by which to restore and deepen one’s relationship with God. As a consequence it has come to be seen by many as an optional extra in living the Catholic faith.

Pope Francis understands this.

Earlier this year he broke with papal tradition by publicly going to confession, a practical but also symbolic demonstration of the truth that even a Holy Father is a sinner in need of God’s mercy.

To those who believe that they do not need an intermediary to obtain God’s mercy, the pope said: “God, in his sovereign mercy, forgives everyone, but he wanted those who belong to Christ and his Church to receive forgiveness through the community’s ministers.”

Doctrinal requirements and spiritual restoration aside, confessing one’s sins can have therapeutic benefits. The burden of feelings of shame or guilt over sinful actions, sometimes endured over years, can be psychologically and even socially damaging.

The sacrament of reconciliation is a restorative mechanism: reconciling one’s relationship with God broken by sin, healing one’s conscience, and providing the foundation for repairing one’s relationship with others.

The sacrament can also facilitate conversion, a means of repudiating a sinful life to make a new start. It can help us to forgive ourselves for our trespasses, and others for theirs.

The Editor reserves the right to shorten or edit published letters. Letters below 300 words receive preference. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances and at the Editor’s discretion.

Name and address of the writer must be supplied. No anonymous letter will be considered.

Many Catholics continue to misunderstand the purpose of confession. The sacrament of reconciliation should not be seen as an obligation to over-scrupulously enumerate a list of venial sins.

It may well be, of course, that a penitent feels that a minor sin has created a breach with God or otherwise weighs on the conscience. In this case, such a sin should be brought before God through the mediation of a confessor so that healing can take place. It is not necessary, however, to bring before God minor transgressions only to have something to say.

In fact, a good confession need not involve a list of sins at all. It can take the form of a conversation, with the confessor offering advice, rather than simply issuing penance.

It does not help that in catechism, children are often encouraged to take the “shopping list” approach, being given a catalogue of lapses in good behaviour that are supposed to assist them in examining their conscience (sometimes such lists include acts that aren’t even intrinsically sinful).

Surely it would be more fruitful to teach children how to appreciate the sacrament not as a punitive measure designed to palliate an angry deity, but as a way of achieving grace from our loving God. They should be encouraged to discuss with their confessor the state of their conscience, rather than to rattle off an inventory of minor mischiefs.

It is a lesson even some adults may benefit from.

An obligation also resides with the confessors. Pope Francis rightly said that a priest who lacks in empathy and is unable to “sow hope in the penitent’s heart” should rather not administer this sacrament until he changes.

Of all the sacraments, that of reconciliation must place the heaviest burden on the priest.

The unbreakable seal of the confessional locks these secrets between confessor, penitent and God. The shocking confessions which many priests inevitably hear, and in some cases their inability to act on unjust situations, must be most difficult to live with.

As Catholics, we must keep the confessors in our prayers.

A

NUMBER of letters have been published in The Southern Cross expressing opposition to the practice of allowing Holy Communion to be received in the hand.

I have also had occasions of being confronted by those supporting this view. The benefit of these encounters is that one is drawn to reflect on and defend one’s position. So I write this letter to answer the question, “What does it mean to me to receive Holy Communion in the hand?”

Firstly, I believe that in the Eucharist I receive the whole Jesus: his humanity and his divinity. That a human being may receive the divine is, of course, an awesome notion. God is the Transcendent One:

Consider the cross

G

ÜNTER Simmermacher in his article on the hymn “How Great Thou Art” (August 20) described how a young Swedish lay preacher was inspired by a thunderstorm in 1885 to compose what is now a great hymn.

The tracing, development and evolvement of the hymn in moving from country to country and among several Christian denominations is both gratifying and uplifting.

Attention is invited to the wording of the hymn where we sing that Almighty God sent his son “upon the cross to die”.

That God did send his only begotten son to redeem the world and that he knew that because of the actions of the Romans at the instigation and persistence of the Jews and our sinfulness, Jesus would die an ignominious death on the cross is not in dispute—but did an all-loving and Almighty God in fact send his son “upon the cross to die”?

In plain terms, did a loving God send his son to die and did God love us more than he loved his only begotten son?

The second part of this question is rhetorical because God’s love is infinite and in any case God is the beginning and the end. It is accepted unquestioningly that in asking his father “to let this cup pass from me”, Our Saviour prayed “but not my will but thy will be done”.

He willingly accepted the will of his father as we repeat in the second station of the cross where Jesus accepts his cross with loving adoration.

In his book Where the Hell is God?, Australian Jesuit Fr Richard Leonard invites attention to the theological correctness or otherwise of the issue of God sending his son to die.

Fr Leonard writes that God does not bring us suffering at all—in fact, when we do suffer, God suffers with us, as every loving father suffers

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the Jews of the Old Testament feared that seeing God face to face, they would die. How is it then that I, flesh and blood, could touch the living God? The answer is, of course, this: solely because of Jesus Christ, the “God-Man”. Though divine, “he did not cling to his equality with God” but took on flesh and blood.

Hands formed in the womb of Mary, sharing her flesh, would soon immerse themselves in the world, stretching out to heal and bless all who sought him, touching even leprous flesh, rubbing a paste of spittle and mud on blind eyes.

Those hands, nailed to a cross, had broken bread and shared it with the words, “This is my body:

with his suffering offspring.

Further, as humans, if we have reason for our suffering, then we can endure anything.

These issues also provoke further and very important questions. Was it necessary that Jesus die on the cross and why? Answers such as the necessity to display great love are somewhat unconvincing and we must look further and much deeper, such as to consider that Jesus on the cross was the human Christ and as a man was dying for the redemption of the human race.

Was Jesus on the cross the plenipotentiary of the human race as was Adam at the time of his fall?

We must consider that Jesus was the God-man, with Jesus on the cross as the human Christ as opposed to the cosmic or the spiritual Christ who is and always will be the second person of the Blessed Trinity and who can never die, for God is eternal.

It was surely at the resurrection that the human and the spiritual Christ were reunited, and it is significant that the risen Christ ate food with his disciples and remained on earth for 40 days before the ascension.

Kevin Andersson, Pietermaritzburg

Where are our church bells?

I

ATTENDED a funeral recently where the opening hymn was “When Morning Gilds the Sky”, a real golden oldie.

The second verse goes: “Whene’er the sweet church bell/Peals over hill and dell/May Jesus Christ be praised!/O hark to what it sings/As joyously it rings/May Jesus Christ be praised!”

What has happened to church bells? Are they rung in our churches? Are they a feature of new churches at all? Or have they just slipped unnoticed into disuse?

Bring back the bells for the call to worship on Sundays and holy days. Even the Angelus bells might lead to a society that hears and stops to think and pray.

Ethné Stevens, Cape Town

Peace is difficult

R

EGARDING Judith Turner’s article “Can there be peace?” (August 27), I think it is difficult to forgive and especially to forget what people did to us. This is why peace is not easy to broker.

The people who hurt me in my life have all prospered so greatly, it is unbelievable how good God can be.

I am in a shelter, barely making it, but much better than seven years ago. I have suffered such poverty since I stood up against what I believed was wrong towards me.

I am not sure I will ever understand God’s deliberation on this one.

How do you make peace with people who think they are untouchable?

J Jansen van Rensburg, Cape Town

take, eat.”

Now, liturgy is the enactment of what we believe: my hands speak the language of my heart. I express in the gesture of my outstretched hands a humbling: like a beggar I acknowledge my utter reliance on God; through my outstretched hands I communicate a welcome to Christ into my whole being, body and soul.

Jesus stretched out his hands to broken humanity: for a moment I am joined with those privileged few who actually reached out and touched the Master.

And I walk away filled with gratitude that God has dignified my humanity, and that my hands will now continue to do his works in the world.

Deacon Godfrey Solomon, Cape Town

Ministry of cantors is vital

G

OOD cantors and proclaimers of the Word are vital in regard to the proclamation of the Liturgy of the Word at Mass.

By and large our proclaimers are adequate. However, in some parishes and communities it seems they are “chosen” on their “standing” or membership of this or that sodality in the parish. No one should be selected for this important ministry unless auditioned by a competent group in the relevant parish or community.

Those in the pew should be able to discern whether or not our proclaimers are “in love with” the Word of God by their manner of proclaiming, and are sufficiently attuned to the dynamics of this vital ministry in regard to diction, voice production and projection.

The role of cantor as of proclaimer requires a certain and unmistakeable spiritual quality that can immediately be discerned by those in the congregation who are spiritually attuned.

I have often been disappointed to witness in some parishes and communities, these roles being assigned to the “senior members” in the parish, and ignoring members of the congregation with excellent voices who could fill these roles more than adequately.

The cantor supports the congregation in musical matters, leading the singing of the hymns, chants and acclamations. He should have a suitably good (possibly trained) voice, and an adequate vocal range, get on with people, and have a style that encourages the congregation to participate.

It was St Augustine of Hippo who said: “They pray twice who sing.” The better-equipped the cantor is as a musician, the more successful he will be in this ministry.

The Responsorial Psalm should always be sung by the cantor—both the response and the verses. The same applies to the Alleluia and the Gospel Acclamation.

It is not good liturgy for the Alleluia only to be sung, and the verse recited. On no account should the presiding priest “jump in” and recite or sing the Responsorial Psalm, badly (as I have sometimes experienced), confounding the proclaimer.

The Liturgy of the Word should be proclaimed in such a way as to set the congregation “on fire” for participation in the liturgy of the Eucharist and the reception of our Lord, body, blood, soul and divinity in Holy Communion, which follows.

John Lee, Johannesburg Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate.

Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

Letters can be sent to Po box 2372, Cape Town 8000 or editor@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465-3850

PERSPECTIVES

The Southern Cross, September 17 to September 23, 2014

Faith healing: More fiction than faith I Gushwell Brooks N my life as a radio presenter, every so often my producer suggests that I do a show that stretches my imagination somewhat.

He rightly believes that as a radio talk show host, I should be able to cater to every interest and make it informative and entertaining for the listener at home. He rips me away from my comfort zone of tackling politics, news and current events and throws me into the deep end where I am expected to navigate conversation through the morass of astrology, a litany of many other esoteric subjects and the subject of this piece: faith healing.

My latest encounter was with an elderly lady who calls herself Minister Louisa, who practises in the southern suburbs of greater Johannesburg. She claims that among the “miracles” she has performed, she managed to cure a 27-year-old man of HIV/Aids and multiplied food to feed the poor.

I entered the conversation thinking that my audience—supposedly rational commentators, or couch commentators of an expected secular persuasion—would rip into her, criticising her for falsities and dangerous practices that put real people’s lives at stake.

In fact, at the outset of the interview, I pitied her slightly, assuming that my audience, and I, would launch a relentless “shock and awe” verbal campaign against her. Instead I seemed to find myself alone in my criticism of her practices.

So, as anyone else who walks a fine line between faith and rationality, I thought to myself: “Why am I so resistant to the idea that God could have chosen Minister Louisa as a vessel—as she claims—to heal

nEW CoLuMn

the sick and feed the poor? Was Jesus’ ministry not based on these very acts, and during the process of canonisation, are the most common miracles not those of a healing nature?” It would therefore seem a little hypocritical of me not to accept that Minister Louisa could perhaps perform the very same “miracles”, or would it?

It is a very human trait to seek animate evidence of God’s presence. It is far tougher to believe in an ethereal being, seemingly disconnected from us, refusing to intervene in life’s strife of loneliness, illness, financial insecurity, crime and many other tragedies.

Talking about Faith

T

he belief in a loving God is shaken for every person at one point or the other; whether it is through the loss of a loved one, our own shortcomings or afflictions of a physical or psychological nature.

So if someone saunters along, claiming to heal illnesses and feed the poor, that seemingly absent God becomes real and present for many of us once more.

That is why I found myself alone in my

Mphuthumi Ntabeni

To cut the wealth gap P OPE Benedict XVI, in his encyclical Caritas in Veritate, says that political action is needed to ensure that wealth is distributed equitably. As the Church and civil society, he says, we must act to promote governance that treats the drive for social and economic justice seriously.

The Church’s social teaching puts heavy responsibilities on a person (or nation) that has a surplus where others lack the basic necessities.

Successive popes have made that point: Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum (1891), Pius XI in Quadregesimo Anno (1931), St John XXIII in Mater et Magistra (1961), Paul VI in Populorum Progressio (1967), and so on.

The question for us South African Catholics is this: How seriously do we take the Church’s social teachings? Do we really use them as a measure to evaluate our government or the political parties we vote for?

For instance, have we thought hard about our government’s plan towards 2030, the National Development Plan (NDP)? Whether it is going to change the gross situation of growing inequalities in our country by instilling better social and economic justice?

The NDP takes seriously the strategy of economic growth (interrogated in last month’s column). It also puts at the forefront agricultural development for the purposes of food security.

One would have thought that it would also seek to establish community gardens for commercial farming, also to promote inclusive economic participation. Perhaps it is mute on that point because it is trying to avoid the controversial question of land redistribution. (The governing party has tabled radical land reform proposals in parliament that, if enacted, would see farmers giving half their land, compensated by the state, to their longterm workers.)

I laud the NDP for undertaking to invest in the country’s infrastructure, but as

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Pushing the Boundaries

Traders on a stock exchange. In his column Mphutumi Ntabeni asks whether free markets can operate under defective competition conditions. (Photo: Paulo Whitaker, Reuters/CNS) any economist knows, governments do not produce an economy that creates jobs and raises living standards for all—that is the duty of the private sector.

Hence the government needs to issue penalties for domestic companies that sit on liquid cash above a certain percentage, and make it compulsory for all companies that do business in South Africa to invest a certain percentage of their revenue back into the country’s economy.

No country is ever developed by foreign investment. Projecting a country’s growth based on foreign investment is a fallacy.

What is required is for government to put in place corrective measures for our free markets.

S

outh Africa has one of the weakest cooperative laws in the world, and even those are not effectively implemented.

That is why our CEOs can pay themselves obscene bonuses, and why big business collusion is common.

But the NDP does not talk about this, nor about the fact that the so-called free markets operate under defective competition conditions, for a start—a far cry from the ideal of “perfect” competition and “perfect” information. Can one then blame those who say the NDP promotes a

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scepticism of Minister Louisa; people yearn for a higher power that physically and materially intervenes in their lives.

Minister Louisa and many like her understand this most vulnerable chink in the human spiritual armour and “in exchange for some petrol money or a small fee” provide evidence of that present God by curing illnesses and casting out demons that stop you from getting that job that will save your family from starvation.

The real truth is that the only evidence I have of her efficacy and those like her, are the many tragic stories of terminally ill people spending fortunes, travelling great distances, all to meet a tragic end because “they did not have enough faith in God’s healing power”.

By claiming to be God’s vessel, people like Minister Louisa strip themselves of any culpability and place it on the shoulders of desperate people willing to do anything in search of a cure or treatment.

It is not that miracles do not happen, it is just that many lie and take advantage of our belief and hope in miracles. It is this that makes the vast majority of faith healers very, very dangerous people with little, if any, scruples. n Gushwell Brooks is a presenter on Talk Radio 702 and 567 CapeTalk, and on Radio Veritas.

He also writes for The Daily Maverick.

neoliberal agenda?

The government, through the NDP, should not shy away from actively getting involved to correct market forces for the benefit of its citizens. Sadly, the NDP is silent on all of this.

As Joseph E Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize laureate for economics, puts it: “Progressive tax and expenditure policies”, which tax the rich more than the poor and provide systems of good social protection, “can limit the extent of inequality. By contrast, programmes that give away a country’s resources to the rich and well-connected can increase inequality.”

Prof Stiglitz concludes by saying: “Inequality is the result of political forces as much as of economic ones. In a modern economy government sets and enforces the rules of the game.” And that “government alters the dynamics of wealth by, for instance, taxing inheritances and providing free public education”.

If all that sounds too “socialist” or “interventionist”, consider Pope Benedict XVI who in Caritas in Veritate calls for the “regulation of the financial sector” by governments to safeguard vulnerable parties, such as the poor and the unemployed.

The market, Pope Benedict says, “needs to be directed towards the pursuit of the common good, for which the political community in particular must also take responsibility”.

Political action, he says, is needed to ensure that wealth is distributed equitably.

And that is the job we must look for the NDP to perform, and which civil society— a component which Pope Benedict stresses—must advocate for.

The NDP needs to pay more attention to the structural dislocations that exist in our economy and come up with better, more effective and responsible ways of mending them.

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Michael Shackleton

Open Door

Can I change my confirmation saint?

I have read online that taking a confirmation name is simply an act of personal piety or custom, and not required by the rubrics for the sacrament. Is it possible to later change one’s confirmation name if, for example, a strong affinity to a different saint arose?

Michelle Evert ULIET asked Romeo: “What’s in a name?” She imagined a name as a mere word, saying: “That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.”

For Christians a given name carries much more weight than just another random word. When we are christened and receive our Christian name in the waters of baptism, we are sealed with a very special identity. Christ claims us as his own. We belong to him and become answerable to him for our conduct in life. When he judges us, we can expect him to address us by that very personal name.

One’s confirmation name, religious name, surname or any other kind of title cannot match the priority of the baptismal name.

Interestingly, in the past number of years there has been a tendency, among religious sisters particularly, to drop their religious name and revert to their Christian name.

In the early centuries candidates received confirmation under the name they had assumed at their christening. It was only in later centuries in certain parts of the Western Church that the custom of taking another name at confirmation became current.

The confirmands were encouraged to choose a name, generally of a patron saint, whose virtues inspired them and who would be their particular role-model after reception of the sacrament.

This development was an imitation of baptism, so that instead of the godparents standing for the newly baptised, one or more members of the Church would sponsor those to be confirmed, assuring the officiating bishop of their worthiness.

This practice is, as you mention, a custom; it is not a requirement of the Roman Ritual, so there are regions where no new confirmation name is assumed and the bishop confirms the candidates calling them by their baptismal names. For some reason, it is mostly in English-speaking lands that the taking of a confirmation name has become the norm. Candidates may choose to keep their baptismal name when confirmed, if they like.

Names given in baptism and confirmation are entered into the parish register and may not be altered afterwards. So, while one may prefer another saint’s patronage to the one whose name was chosen in confirmation, one may freely foster a devotion to that other saint. The names in the parish register, however, remain unchanged.

J

n Send your queries to Open Door, Box 2372, Cape Town,

8000; or e-mail: opendoor@scross.co.za; or fax (021) 465 3850. Anonymity can be preserved by arrangement, but questions must be signed, and may be edited for clarity. Only published questions will be answered.

8

The Southern Cross, September 17 to September 23, 2014

COMMUNITY

The zimbabwe-South Africa (zimSA) unit of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur held their annual assembly at the Ave Maria Pastoral and Development Centre in Mooketsi, Tzaneen. One of the days was spent at a diversity workshop held together with the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

Twenty-six sisters from ten countries attended the workshop facilitated by Paul Graham from Johannesburg.

Nineteen members of St Anne’s parish in Mpophomeni, Durban archdiocese, were baptised.

They are pictured with Franciscan Sisters Francina and Innocencia, catechists and Fr Jude Fernando TOR (back left).

The staff and youth of Salesian Institute Youth Projects in Cape Town held a special service at Sacred Heart church in Green Point, Cape Town, to launch the bicentenary year of the birth of St John Bosco. During the service, which comprised readings, singing and a short talk by Fr Jeff Johnson, the youth also brought forward various symbols reflecting Salesian spirituality—a map of the Salesian presence in the world, a picture of Don Bosco, a candle, bible and the official bicentenary logo.

The Catholic Women’s League of Our Lady of Fatima parish in Durban North attended a retreat weekend at Coolock Retreat House in Melville, South Coast. The theme was Mary and Martha. (From left back) Marie Bates, Lucy Venter, Jenny Davis, Christine Schoombe, Liz Newberry, Eileen Chapson and Nancy Ah-Chuen.

(Front) Margaret Larkins, Carol Price, Elizabeth Norton-Amor, Carol Lind, Gabi van der Merwe and Totti Bremner.

Mgr Jock Baird gives Brigid and Deacon Harvey Moon of St John the Evangelist parish in Fish Hoek, Cape Town, a nuptial blessing on the occasion of their golden wedding anniversary.

MICASA TOURS

Easter Pilgrimage to Lourdes Led by Father Allan Moss OMI 01-09 April 2015

Send your photos to pics@scross.co.za with information about the event and names of the people in the photos

Pilgrimage to Fatima, garabandal, Lourdes, Dozulè, Liseux and Paris Led by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale OMI 10-23 May 2015

Pilgrimage to italy-Shroud of Turin, Passion Play in Sordevolo, Milan, rome, Verona, Venice Led by Father Victor Phalana 09-21 June 2015

Holy Land Pilgrimage

Led by Father Christopher Townsend 31 August -09 September 2015

Pilgrimage to Fatima, Lourdes , rome and Assisi Led by Father Robert Mphiwe 07-19 September 2015

Contact: Tel: 012 342 7917/072 637 0508 (Michelle) E-Mail: info@micasatours.co.za

Our Lady of Fatima Dominican School in Durban North celebrated its 60th jubilee by arranging pupils into the school badge and the numeral 60.

Holy Angels parish in Bez Valley, Johannesburg, started a monthly liturgy for children from Grades R to 4. Catechists (from left) Shanelle Behari, Hailey Buikes and Ntlhande Rathangane are pictured with the children at the first session.

The Southern Cross, September17 to September 23, 2014

CHURCH

9

A martyr ahead of his time In October the Vatican will examine the sainthood cause for Benedict Daswa, the Limpopo man who many consider to be a martyr.

STUART GRAHAM travelled to the area of Benedict’s life and spoke to people associated with the man and his cause. In the first of three articles to be published over the next weeks, he recalls Benedict’s life and speaks to a close friend.

T

HE jagged rocks piled up as a makeshift memorial beside the road to Thohoyandou in Limpopo province are an ominous reminder that little has changed in the area where Benedict Daswa was stoned and beaten to death after he stood up against a witchhunt nearly 25 years ago.

It was late in the day on Friday, February 2, 1990—the day President FW de Klerk unbanned the liberation movements—and Benedict was driving home in his bakkie from taking his sister-in-law and her sick child to the doctor when he saw the branch of a fig tree blocking his path on the road.

“Little did he know that on either side of the bushes there were people fully armed with stones, knobkierries and what have you,” Benedict’s close friend Chris Mphaphuli says as he examines the rocks and points out the fig tree, which is still standing, across the road.

“He opened the door, ran for his life, but they were stoning him,” Mr Mphaphuli recalls in an interview with The Southern Cross.

Benedict, a member of the Lemba tribe which has links to Judaism, grew up observing Jewish customs. He converted to Catholicism at the age of 17, and was confirmed by Benedictine Abbot Bishop Clemens van Hoek at Sibasa in 1963.

His ID book gave his name as Tshimangadzo Samuel Daswa, but he became known by his confirmation name, Benedict, chosen after the sixth-century saint who founded the Benedictine order and in tribute to Fr Benedict Risimati, the catechist who had instructed him and others under a fig tree.

He was known in his community as a hard worker and a man who could get things done. He built a school, bought a bakkie and used it to transport rocks from the river to build a church.

He was a catechist in his community, and professionally was the

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principal of the local primary school.

He grew vegetables and fruit for his community, making sure the poor were fed, and he started a football team.

A family man with eight children, he was known for breaking with Venda tradition and helping his wife with the household chores.

Mr Mphaphuli chuckles at Benedict’s propensity to take on the tasks generally performed by women.

“You would see Benedict washing the nappies of his babies,” says Mr Mphaphuli. “This is not something you see in this area. Men have their tasks and women have theirs. But for Benedict there was none of that. He was ahead of his time.”

Mr Mphaphuli added: “Some people said he was bewitched because it was so unusual for a man to do these things.”

Benedict’s break with Venda traditions was greeted with disdain by some fellow villagers and made him few friends, but it was his outspokenness against age-old superstitions that brought out his enemies.

Mbahe village near the soccer field where Benedict Daswa (inset) was killed. (Below left) Fr Benedict Risimati, Benedict’s catechist. (Below right) Benedict’s close friend Chris Mphaphuli explains the events of February 2, 1990.

H

e had first earned the mistrust of some of his fellow villagers when he refused to let his football team wear trinkets that supposedly would bring them luck in an important game. Their dislike for Benedict came to a head in January 1990 after the rains had failed to come and then a series of unseasonal lightning strikes hit the area, one of them causing three huts to burn down in Mbahe village.

The village elders called a meeting and concluded that a witch was responsible. Each member of the meeting was asked to contribute R5 to a fund that would be used to consult a witchdoctor. Benedict refused to take part, explaining that lightning was a natural phenomenon, not the work of witches.

He reasoned that the use of a traditional healer constituted witchcraft and therefore was in conflict with his Catholic faith.

With that he refused to participate or pay the R5 fee.

A week later the mob attacked, having stopped Benedict’s bakkie with that branch of the fig tree. He was assaulted but managed to run away.

“He took the shortcut to a nearby shebeen,” says Mr Mphaphuli. “We think he wanted to get help. When he arrived there, some people were drinking beer. He did not talk much, because he was bleeding and he wanted to hide.

He went straight through the passage to the four-roomed house, [but] then the owner of the house

stopped him from doing so. He came back and he found a rondavel. The door was open. He went straight there and closed the door.”

When he heard the mob threatening the owner he came outside.

The mob trapped Benedict. As a man approached with a raised knobkerrie to deliver the fatal blow, Benedict prayed: “God, into your hands, receive my spirit.”

His killers were never brought to justice.

Benedict’s funeral Mass was concelebrated by several priests, with Fr John Finn MSC, parish priest of Thohoyandou/Sibasa, as the main celebrant. All clergy wore red vestments in acknowledgment of their

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belief that Benedict had died a martyr’s death for his faith.

The irony that Benedict was killed on the very day that President de Klerk announced his intention to release Nelson Mandela has not escaped attention.

The comparisons between Benedict and Mr Mandela come easily.

Both were compassionate, altruistic, hard workers and believed in education. At the same time, the two were also different.

“Daswa was not a politician,” says Mr Mphaphuli. “He loved his community. He wanted to make a difference in a small way.”

The diocese of Tzaneen opened an inquiry into Benedict’s death in 2005 and completed it in 2009.

The investigation resulted in more than 850 pages of testimony from reliable witnesses to his life and death.

In October the Vatican’s Congregation for Sainthood Causes will examine the cause of Benedict Daswa. If the cause is accepted, it will be sent to Pope Francis, who may then decide to approve what would be South Africa’s first beatification. n Next week Stuart Graham speaks to Benedict Daswa’s family. On September 25 a group of Southern Cross pilgrims, led by Bishop João Rodrigues of Tzaneen, will leave on a pilgrimage of prayer for Benedict’s cause to Fatima, Avila, Zaragoza, Lourdes, Paris and other places associated with Our Lady.

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The Southern Cross, September 17 to September 23, 2014

CHURCH

SA’s most integrated parish?

When COLLEEN CONSTABLE moved from the Western Cape to Gauteng earlier this year, she had to find a church in which to attends Mass. In Centurion, she found one that enriches and excites her.

I

T is St Paul who stated in Romans 12:3-5: “I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think, but to think soberly, each according to the measure of faith that God has appointed. For as in one body we have many parts and all parts do not have the same function, so we though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another,”(The African Bible).

I find relevance of these biblical verses in the spiritual community of Maria Regina parish in Centurion. I attended my first Mass with this community on Pentecost.

I found a spirit-filled community in deep grief. I joined them in a time of sorrow: a time when they were mourning the sudden death of their beloved parish priest, Fr Arsène Muhau (may his soul rest in peace). I found a parish trying to cope with its extraordinary challenges.

And I found what may well be the country’s most integrated Catholic church: a community that is a true resemblance of the “rainbow nation”.

It is an integrated community united by design. An integrated community united in mourning through the sudden loss of their beloved parish priest. An integrated community united in their expectations of how best to move ahead as a spiritual family in the absence of their beloved parish priest.

After Mass that Sunday, I felt overwhelmed by the atmosphere of sorrow and grief. I passed two women at the back of the church holding on to each other, united in grief that cuts across their cultural barriers, sobbing

uncontrollably. Every face had a tear: every face told a story of emotional pain and loss.

I had mixed feelings as I heard of another spiritual challenge the community faces. A mixed feeling that was soon overcome by the beauty of the parish community: I saw a truly integrated body of Christ. And I became excited—this is the parish where I want to worship God! A new spiritual family: a new spiritual home.

The following week, on the feast of the Holy Trinity, I was again touched by the visible “unity” of the parish community. You enter a church where each of the pews is filled with parishioners from various cultural backgrounds, sitting next to each other. They become a perfect reflection of integration of different cultures: a modern reflection of St Paul’s “…so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individual parts of one another.”

You enter the church and observe the integrated seating of parishioners. There seem to be no special pews for those who have fallen into the habit of sitting in the same pew, claiming entitlement to the same seat, every Sunday, even if they arrive late.

In this parish, as people enter the church, they seem to fill up the pews.

Hence you’ll hardly find the front rows empty, while the back pews are packed to their limit. This is a church with strong attendance: all pews are filled every Sunday. If you want a seat, you come early.

I

thought that this parish resembles the unity and love that exists between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This love for another is visible through parishioners’ interaction with each other, across cultural groups, after Mass, chatting and promoting their different activities.

I have lived and worked in four of the nine provinces in our country. I attended Mass in each of the provinces where I lived. I have seen our ability to seek those who look like us or speak like us, as we seat ourselves in church. I have seen how disintegrated we are as we attend Mass.

After Mass, we end up talking to those who look like us and speak

like us.

I have observed that many of our churches are still disintegrated: carrying the hallmarks of the past. We continue to worship in our traditional churches where we live in our residential areas that still lack full integration of cultural groups.

Now I am blessed to experience a true reflection of an integrated parish: the beauty of parishioners from various cultural backgrounds, from different languages, worshipping together with one mind, interacting with each other with love.

I am inspired by how integrated Maria Regina parish has become: I am in awe of the journey thecommunity has travelled to reach this space where they are truly one spiritual family.

It is a process which, given our historical background, most probably did not happen overnight. But it was a step they took to become a true reflection of the body of Christ: a mirror of the love and unity that exists between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I pray that the parish of Maria Regina will grow from strength to strength and become an example for many parishes across the country.

We can be one.

Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Holy Childhood of Jesus

nEW For 2015

27 MAR TO 6 APR 2015

EASTEr in THE HoLYLAnD

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Colleen Constable writes of her experiences of attending Mass in a truly integrated congregation.

(Above) Members of the church choir are silhouetted against stained glass windows at the back of the church. (Below) Clergy and parishioners of Maria Regina attend the requiem Mass of their parish priest Fr Arsène Muhau who died in June this year. (Photos: Mathibela Sebothoma)

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CLASSIFIEDS Pope mourns death of missionary sisters

P

OPE Francis has mourned the deaths of three Xaverian Missionary Sisters of Mary, who were murdered in two separate attacks in their residence in Burundi.

Srs Lucia Pulici, 75, and Olga Raschietti, 82, were found dead in their mission residence in the capital of Bujumbura.

Sr Bernadetta Bogianni, 79, who had found the bodies, was killed the next night.

In telegrams sent to Archbishop Evariste Ngoyagoye of Bujumbura and Sr Ines Frizza superior-general of the Xaverian Missionary Sisters of Mary, the pope expressed his sadness concerning the “tragic deaths” of these “faithful and devout nuns”.

The messages, sent on behalf of the pope by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said the pope hoped that “the blood they have shed may become the seed of hope to build true fraternity between peoples”.

Xaverian Missionary Father Mario Pulcini, superior of the Xaverian Missionaries in Burundi, told the missionary news service MISNA that he had gone to the mission house after he and Sr Bogianni had been unable to reach Srs Pulici and Raschietti by telephone all of that day.

“I was in front of the main

Sr Olga Raschietti, 82, one of three nuns who were murdered in two separate attacks at their residence in Burundi.(Photo courtesy xaverian Missionaries) door with the idea of forcing it open when it opened and I saw Sr Bernadetta there very upset. She had found a side service entrance open and, once she entered, found the lifeless bodies of Srs Olga and Lucia,” he said.

They alerted government, military, judicial and religious authorities, the priest said, and an investigation was begun.

Despite the murders, the sis-

Community Calendar To place your event, call Mary Leveson at 021 465 5007 or e-mail m.leveson@scross.co.za (publication subject to space)

DurbAn: Holy Mass and novena to St Anthony at St Anthony’s parish every Tuesday at 9am. Holy Mass and Divine Mercy Devotion at 17:30pm on first Friday of every month. Sunday Mass at 9am. Phone 031 309 3496.

JoHAnnESburg: Life in the Spirit seminar, September 4 to October 30 presented by Charis-

matic Renewal at cathedral of Christ the King.

Contact Joseph Uga at 083 237 3745 or Boni Gumede at 072 274 3901.

nELSPruiT: Adoration of the blessed sacrament at St Peter’s parish every Tuesday from 8:00 to 16:45, followed by rosary, Divine Mercy prayers, then a Mass/Communion service at 17:30pm.

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 620. ACROSS: 4 Justice, 8 Healer, 9 Ignites, 10 Repels, 11 Iconic, 12 Pantheon, 18 Dry bones, 20 Lavabo, 21 Angola, 22 Misread, 23 Veneer, 24 Shallow. DOWN: 1 Therapy, 2 Rampant, 3 Health, 5 Ungainly, 6 Triton, 7 Credit, 13 Eldorado, 14 Annoyed, 15 Astaire, 16 Lavish, 17 Barrel, 19 Banner.

ters decided to spend the night in their home. However, they phoned Fr Pulcini during the night after the murders, afraid that “the aggressor was in the home”. When the priest arrived, he found Sr Bogianni had been killed, too.

Police said a man was arrested.

He was found with a key to the convent and a cellphone belonging to one of the nuns.

A statement put out by the nuns’ order said that “the murders appeared to be the tragic outcome of an armed robbery or a vendetta”. They strongly denied reports that two of the nuns had been raped.

“The local population is as shocked as we are” ands were coming together to pray for the three women, the order said.

Burundian Vice-President Prosper Bazombanza has said the government was “appalled by such barbarity”.

The three missionary sisters had been working in Burundi, helping the poor and the sick, the past seven years, Vatican Radio reported. Before that they had worked for several years in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sr Bogianni had been a superior of the congregation for many years.

Spiritual Leader Fr. Michael Foley of St Anne’s Parish, Sydenham, Durban Karen Foley - area manageress t: 031 765 5845 • F: 031 765 5712 karen.foley@harveyworldkzn.co.za

CLASSiFiEDS

Liturgical Calendar Year A Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday, September 21, 25th Sunday Isaiah 55:6-9, Psalm 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18, Philippians 1:20-24, 27, Matthew 20:1-16 Monday, September 22 Proverbs 3:27-34, Psalm 15:2-5, Luke 8:16-18 Tuesday, September 23, St Pio of Pietrelcina Galatians 2:19-20 (LFM 740.5), Psalm 16:1-2, 5-8, 11 (LFM 739.3), Matthew 16:24-27 (LFM 742.6) Wednesday, September 24 Proverbs 30:5-9, Psalm 119:29, 72, 89, 101, 104, 163, Luke 9:1-6 Thursday, September 25 Ecclesiastes 1:2-11, Psalm 90:3-6, 12-14, 17, Luke 9:7-9 Friday, September 26 Ecclesiastes 3:1-11, Psalm 144:1-4, Luke 9:1822 Saturday, September 27, St Vincent de Paul Ecclesiastes 11:9—12:8, Psalm 90:3-6, 12-14, 17, Luke 9:43-45 Sunday, September 28, 26th Sunday Ezekiel 18:25-28, Psalm 25:4-9, Philippians 2:111 or Philippians 2:1-5, Matthew 21:28-32

A group of readers is preparing audio tapes of excerpts from The Southern Cross for interested people who are blind, sight-impaired, unable to hold a newspaper or illiterate.

WEDDing AnniVErSArY

PiLLAY—Dr and Mrs George and Rita. Congratulations on your 58th wedding anniversary on September 15. Family and friends wish you everything of the best and want to thank you very much for your love and care through all the years. May God Bless you.

DEATH

MAruSiC—Martin. Born 8/12/1937 in Croatia, died 5/8/2014 in Mutare, zimbabwe, after illness bravely borne. Will be lovingly remembered by loving wife Poppie, children Susan and Darren, Steven and Natalie, Sonja and Brent, grandchildren Tyla, Dayna, Sasha, Hannah, Joshua, Chesney and Brandon. Brother of Ruzica and Makso Ujko to Marianne, Angela and Simone. Pokoj Vjecni (Eternal rest grant him O Lord) at rest with his Mom and Dad. Forever loved and kept in our memory. bLAnD—Anne Patricia. In loving memory of my dear wife, our mother and grandmother who Our Lord called home ten years ago on September 26, 2004.

Time passes but the ache never goes away. We love and miss you and Tracy each and every day and you are both in our hearts and thoughts continually.

Rest in peace and may Our Lord and His Beloved Mother Mary hold you always close. Love Ken, Carol, Jennifer, Mathew, Paul, grandchildren, family and friends.

LETorD—In loving memory of Edna Madeline, who passed away twelve years ago on September 19, 2002. Will always be remembered and loved by her family Helen, Stephen, Matthew, Thérèse and Kieran, Janet, Dean, Michael and Kyle, Anne, Basil, Sarah, Warren and Jessica and her sister Joan Swanson. May her soul rest in peace.

SProAT—Hilda. In loving memory of dear Hilda, wife, mother, sister and aunt, who passed away September 23, 2013. This day remembered and qui-

etly kept, always in our hearts we’ll never forget; Resting where no shadows fall. Loved and remembered by us all.

PrAYErS

HoLY ST JuDE, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. In return I promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen.

Remo Ciolli.

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HoLiDAY ACCoMMoDATion

o MoST beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of Heaven, blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity.

O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein that you are my Mother, O Holy Mary Mother of God, Queen of heaven and earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to secure me in my necessity. There are none who can withstand your power, O show me that you are my mother. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Thank you for your mercy towards me and mine. Amen.

THAnkS be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, For all the benefits thou hast won for me, For all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, May I know thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, And follow thee more nearly, For ever and ever.

PErSonAL

AborTion is murder—Silence on this issue is not golden, it’s yellow! Avoid pro-abortion politicians.

Prison Care and Support Network

Anyone wanting to receive tapes as part of this service, available for an annual subscription fee of only R50, may contact mr Len Pothier, 8 the Spinney Retirement Village, main Rd, Hout Bay, 7806 or phone 021-790 1317.

The Post office will deliver and return tapes without charge. Should you know of any interested blind or otherwise reading-impaired person, please inform them of this service.

11

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MAriAnELLA Guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of God with us.” Fully equipped with amazing sea views.

Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy. Malcolm Salida 082 784 5675 or mjsalida @gmail.com SEDgEFiELD: Beautiful self-catering garden holiday flat, sleeps four, two bedrooms, open-plan lounge, kitchen, fully equipped. 5min walk to lagoon. Out of season specials. Contact Les or Bernadette 044 343 3242, 082 900 6282.

STELLEnboSCH: Christian Brothers Centre. 14 suites (double/twin beds), some with fridge & microwave, others beside kitchenette & lounge, ecospirituality library. Countryside vineyard/forest/ mountain views/walks; beach 20-minute drive. Affordable. 021 880 0242. www.cbcentre.co.za Email: cbcstel@gmail.com The Southern Cross is a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations of South Africa. Printed by Paarl Coldset (Pty) Ltd, 10 Freedom Way, Milnerton.

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The Southern Cross is published independently by the Catholic newspaper & Publishing Company Ltd. Address: PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000. Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850 www.scross.co.za Editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za), business Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za), Advisory Editor: Michael Shackleton, news Editor: Stuart Graham (s.graham@scross.co.za), Editorial: Claire Allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), Mary Leveson (m.leveson@scross.co.za) Advertising: Elizabeth Hutton (advertising@scross.co.za), Subscriptions: Avril Hanslo (subscriptions@scross.co.za), Dispatch: Joan King (dispatch@scross.co.za), Accounts: Desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za).

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26th Sunday: September 28 Readings: Ezekiel 18:25-28, Psalm 25:4-9, Philippians 2:1-11, Matthew 21:28-32

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Align yourself with the Creator

W

Fr Nicholas King SJ

E need to learn how God operates; and it is not quite like the way we operate. Next Sunday’s readings are all about God’s way. The first reading and the psalm talk about “the way” or “path” of God, while the second reading speaks of Jesus’ way, and the gospel about two different “ways” of responding to God’s invitation.

Ezekiel starts with a complaint from the Israelite exiles in Babylon about “the way of the Lord”, which, in the words of children down the ages, “isn’t fair!”

The response is that it is the “way” of the “house of Israel” that “isn’t fair”; when the “just man” behaves unjustly, and dies, that is fair; but “when the wicked man turns away from wickedness…and does justice and righteousness, he shall save his life”.

We may be uneasy at the notion that sin deserves capital punishment; but we need to observe that God takes seriously the way that we behave.

The psalm likewise speaks of God’s “way”, and the poet asks the Lord: “Make your way known to me, God, and teach me your paths.” He continues asking (though it is difficult to get it into English) “put me in the way of our faithfulness, and teach me that

Sunday Reflections

you are the God of my salvation”.

God is then asked to “remember your mercy and your steadfast love, for they are from of old”, and, by contrast, to forget “the sins of my youth…for the sake of your goodness, O Lord”.

The singer insists that God is “good and upright”, and “makes sinners see the way”.

He “shows the way to the oppressed in justice, and teaches the oppressed his way”. This constant emphasis on God’s “way” is a reminder that God has not changed, or acted unfairly; God is unchangingly benevolent.

The second reading likewise speaks of how God operates, in stark contrast to the way in which the Philippians (for which we should understand ourselves) have been operating;

there have been quarrels there, and so he is asking them to “have the same mindset, the same love, united in spirit”.

This is by way of reminding them that there has been “squabbling and empty-headedness”, instead of which they need “in humility to think of each other as their superior, not looking for your own interests, but for those of other people”.

Deeper than that, however, he reminds them of how God and Christ operate: “if there is any comfort in Christ, any consolation of love, any solidarity in the Spirit, any mercy or compassion”.

Then he goes into the well-known, and much-loved, hymn to Christ’s self-emptying, and its astonishing result. That is how the Philippians (and we) are to learn to operate, so that “every tongue may confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.

In the gospel, we have reached that stage of the Jesus-story where the religious authorities are moving against him, and his death is clearly looming. They come and interrogate him about his behaviour in the Temple, and his authority for acting in this way; in re-

Accept God’s generosity M

Y youth had both its strengths and its weaknesses. I grew up on a farm in the heart of the Canadian prairies, a second-generation immigrant.

Our family was a large one and the small farm we lived on gave us enough to live on, though just enough. There were never any extras. We were never hungry or genuinely poor, but we lived with frugality.

You were given what you needed, but rarely anything extra. You got just one portion of the main course at a meal and one dessert because these had to be measured out in a way that left enough for everyone.

And I lived happily inside that, taking for granted that this was the way life was meant to be, assuming that all resources are limited and you shouldn’t ever be asking for or taking more than what’s necessary.

And such a background has its strengths: you grow into adulthood with the sense that there’s no free lunch, you need to earn what you eat.

You know too that you shouldn’t be taking more than your share because the goods of this world are limited and meant to be shared with everyone. If you take more than your share, then there won’t be enough for everyone. Resources are limited, so if anyone gets too much, someone gets too little.

But such an upbringing also has its downside. When everything has to be measured-out to ensure that there’s

Classic Conrad

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

enough for everyone and you live with the underlying fear that there might not be enough, you can easily end up with a sense of scarcity rather than of abundance and an inclination towards stinginess rather than generosity.

A mindset of scarcity rather than of abundance debilitates us in several ways.

I

t tends to leave us standing before life’s abundance too timid to celebrate life with any exuberance. Life is too equated with frugality and you are forever haunted by guilt in the face of life’s goodness, and especially before any experience of luxury, not unlike the discomfort felt by Jesus’ disciples when they are face to face with a prodigal woman lavishly anointing Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume.

Inside a mindset of scarcity there’s the perennial temptation to falsely idealise suffering and poverty and have them replace grace and abundance as God’s real gift to us. More crippling still is the fact that a

sense of scarcity too often gives us a concept of a God who is limited and who is frugal rather than prodigal. But that isn’t the God of Jesus.

Allow me just one, rather pointed, illustration. A seminary professor whom I know shares this story. He’s been teaching seminarians for many years and in recent years, when teaching about the sacrament of penance, is frequently asked this question, often as the first question in the class: “When can I refuse absolution? When do I not grant forgiveness?”

The anxiety expressed here is not, I believe, triggered by a need for power but by a very sincere fear that we have to be rather scrupulous in handing out God’s mercy, that we shouldn’t be handing out cheap grace.

And, undergirding that fear, I believe, is the unconscious notion that God too works out of a sense of scarcity rather than of abundance, and that God’s mercies, like our own resources, are limited and need to be measured out very sparingly.

But that’s not the God whom Jesus incarnated and revealed. The gospels rather reveal a God who is prodigal beyond all our standards and beyond our imagination. The God of the gospels is the Sower who, because he has unlimited seeds, scatters those seeds everywhere without discrimination: on the road, in the ditches, in the thorn bushes, in bad soil, and in good soil.

Moreover, that prodigal Sower is also the God of creation, that is, the God who has created and continues to create hundreds of billions of galaxies and billions and billions of human beings. And this prodigal God gives us this perennial invitation: Come to the waters, come without money, come without merit because God’s gift is as plentiful, available, and as free as the air we breathe.

The gospel of Luke recounts an incident where Peter, just after he had spent an entire night fishing and had caught nothing, is told to cast out his net one more time.

This time, Peter’s net catches so many fish that the weight of the catch threatens to sink two boats.

Peter reacts by falling on his knees and confessing his sinfulness. But, as the text makes clear, that’s not the proper reaction in the face of overabundance. Peter is wrongly fearful, in effect, wanting that overabundance to go away, when what Jesus wants from him in the face of that overabundance is to go out to the world and share with others that unimaginable grace.

What God’s overabundance is meant to teach us is that, in the face of limitless grace, we may never refuse anyone absolution.

sponse he tells them this parable about the two sons, whom their father approaches with a request (well, an order, really) to “go today, and work in my vineyard”.

Number One son, rebellious adolescent, said, “‘I don’t want to’, but later changed his mind and went”. Number Two son, sycophantic creep, “said, ‘Yessir!’ and never turned up”.

Now we are both of these youngsters, and when Jesus asks, “Which of the two did the father’s will?”, we have to confess, shamefacedly, that we have been rebellious and disobedient.

Then comes Jesus’ humiliating response: “Amen, I’m telling you—the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God.” That was not the way it was supposed to be, but that is the way that God operates.

Then he goes back to John the Baptist, charging them with their failure to do what he told them to do, while the tax-collectors and prostitutes (or whoever are your least favourite groups of individuals in this country today) “believed him”.

What is God’s way for you, this week?

Southern Crossword #620

ACROSS 4. Is it seen to be done in court? (7) 8. One who restores your health (6) 9. Lights the paschal candle (7) 10. Turns out lepers (6) 11. This refers to the Byzantine image (6) 12. Neon path to the temple (8) 18. They had to hear the word of the Lord (Ez 37) (3,5) 20. Priest’s Latin washing prayer (6) 21. Some African country can go last of all (6) 22. Make a mistake from the lectionary (7) 23. Finish a thin coat (6) 24. Superficial part of the pool (7)

DOWN 1. Pray the treatment makes a change (7) 2. Man trap that is out of control (7) 3. Cheers! Yours is drunk (6) 5. Clumsy in an ugly way (8) 6. Greek sea-god from NT trio (6) 7. Direct move to believe (6) 13. Adore old fabulous rich land of the Amazon (8) 14. Done any stirring and irritated? (7) 15. Fred who danced on screen (7) 16. Bestow generously (6) 17. Let it roll for the parish fiesta (6) 19. Flag the censor will wave? (6) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

T

HERE was an inter-faith meeting where Jews, Christians and Muslims were visiting each others’ places of worship.

While visiting the Catholic cathedral, a little old Jewish lady looked at a statue of Mary and whispered: “What’s a nice Jewish girl like you doing in a Catholic church?”

Send us your favourite Catholic joke, preferably clean and brief, to The Southern Cross, Church Chuckle, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.